How to Spot a JUNK SCOPE! Avoid These Hobby Killers! Red Flags! (Plus, Better Alternatives!)

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Hobby killing junk scopes have been the bane of our hobby for 50+ years. Hardly a day has gone by in these past 25 years where I don't get a question about this awful stuff. You are better off not buying a telescope at all, than spending $200 on something you will throw eventually away. Find out what red flags to watch out for, and try the alternatives listed at the end of the video.
Note: If you are old enough, you may remember when entry level scopes were decent. Up through the 1970s or so, small refractors were brand-labeled Japanese telescopes from manufacturers like Goto, Towa, Royal Astro, Halmar, and others. The Tascos from this era were good, even collectible today. Even the early scopes from Sears were good. But sometime in the 1980s, something sinister happened when manufacturers started selling useless plastic junk from China.
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Опубликовано:

9 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 461

@joakimastro Год назад

A friend of mine said it best: If Ed Ting were to explain how paperclips worked, it would still be an interesting watch. Keep it up!

@edting Год назад

Uh, wow - thanks for that!

@garyharrismusic Месяц назад

That is a perfect description of Ed's style😂

@andreww9252 Год назад

As a very young boy, about 8y.o. I had a small 60mm scope on a yoke mount with short table top legs. I found Saturn one night and was in awe of the small but obvious view of the planet with rings. I ran back inside the house and insisted my parents come outside and look through the little scope I'd set up on the table outside on the footpath. I was so proud of my 'discovery'. I am now 62 y.o. with more advanced equip, and a lifelong love of astronomy, all because of a little 60mm achro with a selection of poor eyepieces that included a 5mm unit and a 2x barlow. They may be rubbish but once upon a time, those hobby killers inspired a boy to dream .....

@edting Год назад

I should probably add this to the headnote. If you are old enough, you remember when entry level scopes were decent. Through about the late 1970s, refractors were brand-labeled Japanese products from Goto, Towa, Royal Astro, Halmar, and others. The early Tascos and Sears telescopes were decent, and even collectible today. Sometime in the 1980s, something sinister happened when they started brand-labeling useless plastic junk from China. You would have no chance of finding Saturn with the scope in the video.

@garylawson5381 Месяц назад

I made the same statement as you did with almost the same words in my comment.

@garylawson5381 Месяц назад

@@edtingI didn't know that.

@scotttorp5811 Год назад

5 million magnification!!!!

@SaneGuyFr Год назад

Even james webb telescope is not able to capture objects at that magnification 😂

@ftumschk Год назад

@@SaneGuyFr ... it might be able to with the 1000X Barlow that came with my department store scope ;)

@Tugela60 Год назад

1000000000x magnification is required, anything less is amateur grade! 😂

@jackieblank4249 Год назад

I'm ordering a 1bilion x for my 50 mm Bushnell Skychief that's in the shed on its wobbly tripod. Hope it can get here fast.

@SaneGuyFr Год назад

@@ftumschk You can see the big bang with it 😂

@ronstewtsaw Год назад

Ed's perpetual recommendation for an 8-inch Dobsonian is, of course, correct. If you are thinking "8-inch good, 10-inch better," then you have never lugged a 10-inch dob out the back door and down the porch steps. And then done the opposite, very late at night. If you have the money for a 10-inch, consider getting an 8-inch plus a sweet eyepiece. Remember, weight goes by the cube of the aperture. The best scope is the one you use.

@freeman10000 Год назад

Eight inch is a definate sweet spot.

@281cu6 Месяц назад

@@freeman10000 I like the six better. Fits in the sedan.

@kevchard5214 Год назад

Ed I must admit to all new sky watchers you have not steered us wrong in 2 years. For many of us joining a club or having a mentor is out of the question but your videos direct us in the right direction and allow us to learn without immediate failure. Thanks for the help!!!

@mrtambourineman6107 Год назад

Out of the question to join a local astronomy club?? Why??

@kevchard5214 Год назад

@@mrtambourineman6107 The closest one is half a state away.

@GrnXnham Год назад

I'm so paranoid about damaging my eyes that I refuse to look at the sun even through high end equipment. And I've been an amateur astronomer for several decades. I feel that I can still enjoy astronomy by missing out on viewing that one celestial object.

@jackieblank4249 Год назад

I say forget the sun. Yes it's amazing and bright. Have you ever had a welding flash. There is no healing of a burnt out eye from looking at a great big ball of fire. Leave it to pros. Enjoy the nite sky's.

@danncorbit3623 4 месяца назад

And now, in praise of the junk scope! ... In the late 1960's, I bought a 40mm Tasco telescope (model 3450) for $13.07, including tax. I made 35 cents for mowing a lawn (with ten cents going back to my dad for gas and wear and tear on the lawnmower), so that represented a lot of work. I saw ads for good scopes, but those were out of reach for me. It had wobbly chromed legs about eighteen inches long, and I would lie on the concrete driveway to use it. Of course it was hard to find things and hard to keep them in view. But it gave me hundreds of hours of pleasure. I saw the rings of Saturn. I examined the nebula in Orion. I looked at Andromeda. I drew pictures of Jupiter and its four largest moons. I tracked the position of the moons over time, so I could see for myself that they revolved around Jupiter. I thought about how Galileo made his own telescope using a lead pipe and a convex lens in front with a concave lens in back. His telescope was 21 power, so I felt grateful to be able to use the same. My telescope had an eyepiece that had clicks on it to go from twenty five to fifty times magnification, five power at a time. On 50 power the chromatic aberration and coma made stars hard to look at, so I almost never went over forty power. It couldn't really be used to split double stars. But even with a wobbly piece of junk, I was able to see a tiny fraction of the beautiful universe, and repeat the wonderful experiments of Galileo.

@edting 4 месяца назад

This should be in the headnote, but if you are old enough, you remember when entry level stuff was good. Vintage Tascos are sought after today. Sometime in the 1980s they began importing useless plastic junk from China.

@noiseintheoffice 10 месяцев назад

I paid $199 Canadian for a scope just like that Tasco in the early 80's. In 2023, I made it into a useful scope by changing the objective, the mount, the focuser, the eyepieces, and the finder, and sawing off the tube from f12 to f6.7. It's pretty good now.

@jerbyjerb5672 Год назад

I have craved the deep views of the night sky for decades! One day I will have my own telescope. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and getting me one step closer each day to owning my own telescope

@iswara108enricochiarucci5 Год назад

He will answer Dobson 6/8 inches

@xpaxhenko Год назад

Hey Ed! I'm really new to all of this and want to give thanks for all of your videos and information. I picked up the AWB dob about a month ago and it's really kicked up my passion for this stuff. I was screwing around with a trash scope for a while before doing any real research and without you I probably would have bailed entirely from the hobby. Thanks man!

@MrGp3po Год назад

One additional comment: Even reputable companies market cheap scopes that can be hobby killers. It seems they sell enough to make some good profit, but at the expense of people that would love to get into the hobby but can't afford better equipment. Oddly, these companies are killing future business too! By discouraging future customers, they hurt themselves more than they know.

@larsosmark9612 Год назад

Talk about luck! Me and my son (13), has been planning to by a telescope for a long time. There are so many out there, so we haven't bout any. We actually talked about it today. And then I stumble on you sight! I wasn't even locking for any answer, and there you were! So tomorrow we will sit and look at all your episode! Just grate! Thank you so much for taking time and explain. You really made my day!

@orianananana Год назад

my first telescope was a hobby killer but i still ended up loving it with what i could see dispite all its flaws, i spent very very little on it as it was used and its left and right turn knob was barely surviving and now i have a celestron dob and meade etx

@enriquejesu4512 9 месяцев назад

Do you still have your first telescope or did you sell it?

@orianananana 9 месяцев назад

@@enriquejesu4512 i still have it, its not perfect (at all xd ) but it is super small and light, so i keep it arround just incase, i also dont really want to sell it and ruin someones first introduction to visual astronomy

@kleeklor 4 месяца назад

@@oriananananaones first scope is special. Even if it's a cheap one. It says something about you as a person that you saw the wonder of it and went bigger instead of being discouraged. Heck, I got started with a cheap pair of binoculars that I have to this day!

@jackieblank4249 Год назад

As Ed would say. The Best scope is the one you will use the most.

@martinlagrange8821 Год назад

I'll only comment that I started out with a 1972 Tasco Japan 4.5" f/8 Newtonian, on quite decent equatorial mount with a wooden-leg tripod. Although it had an .965" H20 and an H6 (I never used the Barlow), I did manage to buy a wide-field 40mm Binocular eyepiece, and a discarded Zeiss 15mm Monocentric eyepiece in this eyepiece diameter, both of which made this simpler telescope into a potent thing for a high-school student to own. The figure of the mirror was genuinely parabolic - they do not make them like they used to.

@BennyColyn Год назад

As a teen, I got my start on one of those 60mm Tasco's in the 90s. I could find most Messiers with that thing! As well as enjoying lunar views, Jupiter, Saturn... But I did toss those stupid barlows, the stock eyepieces (got a nice-for-the-price-and-for-those-days Kellner) etc. But after a while (and some saving) I got a Dob and didn't look back. Now I have an astrobin profile and black hole where my wallet used to be. I wouldn't recommend that kind of scope to anyone tough.

@opponoastos Год назад

I want to upgrade the focuser on my old Japanese Tasco 3T reflector from .965 to 1.25". Can't find anything yet. However, I've been using 1.25 eyepieces with the telescope lately but without the .965 focuser draw tube, completely removed, leaving only the body of the focuser intact on the telescope. I discovered the inside diameter to be just a little over 1.25". So I put some thin felt tape (1mm) inside around the body, acquired a 1.25" Farpoint Lumicon barrel extender, screwed the barrel unto eyepieces, and insert them into the body in and out to reach focus. It works, sorta like helical focusing.. 😁 I've been using Baader, Tele Vue, Pentax, and other eyepieces with success. Only a few didn't come to focus because it needs a little bit more of impossible inward travel. 😅 It's all fun.

@edting Год назад

Those early Tascos are good scopes and worth collecting. I don't know for sure, but check out the part#s UTEA and UTEB from Scopestuff. Those might be a more permanent solution to your .965" issue.

@opponoastos Год назад

@@edting Thanks, Ed. I've already checked out the Scopestuff parts. The visual back on my Tasco does unscrew, but the focuser drawtube is too small for those visual backs. The diameter of the focuser drawtube (which is 32mm or 1.26 inches) is almost exactly that of the barrels on 1.25 eyepieces, so those visual backs wont fit.

@garylawson5381 Месяц назад

I totally agree with everything in your video, but not everything is as it might seem. Around 1983 when I was 24 I bought my first telescope. A Tasco from a department store for $35, about half the size as the one in your video. The first object I observed was Mars. All the news networks were reporting Mars was at one of its closest oppositions. Not only was I excited, but all my friends were impressed. The second object was Jupiter. I could see the two main equatorial belts. Although I now own a 10" Newtonian on a German equatorial mount, those views with my little Tasco are still cherished memories and the beginning of over two decades of a passionate love for observational and practical astronomy.

@rickkearn7100 Год назад

I've learned so much viewing Ed's channel. Great content, quality, production and presentation. In recent years I went for more aperture (12" Dob) but tired of moving it. So I've since moved smaller, to an 8" Dob thanks to one of Ed's posts I watched, and have a great viewing experience without the back aches. Cheers.

@hughcoleman3866 Год назад

We get people come to our club all the time with Junk Scopes. "My Husband/Wife bought me this for xmas/bithday. Can you help me set it up?" We try to help, but really, usually, we end up telling them to throw it away and buy a Dob. When they see how cheaply you can get a 6 or 8 inch Dob second hand, they are quite amazed. On phone holders. A father and son turned up to the club week before last. They've been playing with their 6" Dob for a couple of years now and using their phones on cheap Ebay holders to photograph the moon and planets. I and other members of our club were very impressed with the results they were getting!

@christophercharles9645 8 месяцев назад

You replaced the mount, the eyepiece, the finder, the plossl...and it was still garbage. Not a good sign at all. Wow, the hell you put yourself through to help out the amateur/beginning astronomer is amazing. Thank you!

@vampolascott36 Год назад

Such good advice! Aperture is truly king for visual astronomy. I'll never forget finding the Ring Nebula back in the '80s using the setting circles on my recently purchased Bausch & Lomb 4" SCT after performing polar alignment using the manual. That night translated into a lifetime obsession. If I hadn't found that nebula, I wonder if I would have continued on with this hobby.

@gothicm3rcy426 Год назад

aperture and good optics :) Ive seen scopes with decent size apertures but god awful optics

@reflactor Год назад

Great video. I usually get asked after the purchase has been made. I just try to manage their expectations. Most of the junk telescopes are pretty good for the Moon and maybe (big maybe) the Orion Nebula. If they haven't already purchased, then I recommend an 8 inch Dob (preferably used) or the Starblast 4.5" Dobsonian. Both are wonderful "forever" telescopes. I have both.

@MarkMphonoman Год назад

Agree abouth the Moon and junk scopes.

@artyombeilis9075 Год назад

I own a "junk" 60mm/400 scope on horrible tripod. I took it to Bortle 5 and Bortle 3 areas. Honestly? It showed quite a lot. Also yes 4" or 8" are better but I don't like guys totally dismissing small refractors. With 60mm scope I could easily see Lagoon and Swan Nebulae, nice globlar clusters like M22 and M13. Even Under Botle 8 I could see nice views of butterfly cluster that wasn't really visible with binoculars. This scope isn't best but for $100 it isn't junk. You can upgrade eyepieces for $25 and get quite nice little scope.

@clintongryke6887 Год назад

Really like these informative, practical and honest videos, Ed.

@sanjaydeshmukh4402 9 месяцев назад

Ed sir Thank you for the beautiful guidance Always thankful for your good warnings as it has helped me personally

@terrysikes6638 Год назад

Thank you for that. You brought back many memories of my childhood trying to look at stars through a cheap Christmas gift.

@zygmuntziokowski7877 Год назад

Ed, you are good. I appreciate your input. Thanks!

@jeffchristian6798 Год назад

Excellent. Thank you. This must have been painful to do, but essential.

@mnpd3 11 месяцев назад

I'm an old man who's been doing this since I was 12. Then as now, literature has always claimed a 50-60x per-inch maximum. I have never had an instrument that would approach that claim. In actual practice the limit appears to be about 30x per-inch; any higher than that and the image becomes unusably dark. One exception I can think of is splitting double stars. The Dobs mentioned have a fatal flaw... the mounts. Constructed of particle board (sawdust plus adhesive), night dew and moisture enters the "wood" causing it to rapidly warp and break apart. I've had the 6", 8" and 12" versions and it was the same story. The warping happens quickly if the telescope is setup in the grass, or left outside long enough for the dew to settle. The only solution is to dismantle the new mount using the pieces as patterns for a hardwood duplicate.

@pwmiles56 Год назад

My first scope was a so-called "Japanese Refractor", a 3-inch f16, sold to me by the estimable Dudley Fuller of Farringdon Road, London, circa 1987, price £500 (about $1000 at the time). Actually it was pretty good, an ideal introduction. All I have left of it is the wooden carrying-case, which is now propping up my garden fence. It did take 24.5mm Japanese eyepieces, including Huygenians and Kellners, which seemed to work just fine. Maybe I knew no better, or maybe focal length heals all sins. So my beef is, how low-end but still respectable scopes are heading to lower f numbers, probably at the expense of visual observing.

@edting Год назад

Those older Japanese refractors are actually pretty good. Even the early branded Tascos are good scopes and collectible today.

@goldni4429 Год назад

@edting what about the Red Tasco branded Vixen Jones-Bird desgin,the 125mm Vixen 8V,(I just picked one up on Craigslist last week for $30 on a Vixen polaris mount) I would love to see a video about the hidden Japanese gems from the 80's & 90's masquerading as Celestrons,Tasco,Cometrons etc... great videos!

@bk3720 Год назад

@@edting , I had picked up an old eq mount that was for a 60mm refractor from the 50’s or 60’s that looks like the vintage Tasco, it is beefier than the eq 2 class mounts. It had a broken clasp, so I added four screws to allow it to accept vixen style dove tails. The mount can support a Meade 395 90mm refractor. Now if Tasco scopes would come with this mount today, there would be less problems.

@Darian82653 Год назад

The first telescope that I received for Christmas 52 years ago was a "280X" Jason 60mm 700mm F.L. It cost about $45. It came with 3 oculars(IIRC), a 5,10, and 15mm H, a 2x Barlow, and a finder that was stopped down to maybe 10mm. This definitely would be considered a junk scope by Mr. Ting and others, but I received many hours of joy looking through this telescope. I quickly found the Barlow useless. Craters on the moon showed nicely and I still remember my first view of Saturn at about 46x. I saw a star rising in the east and decided to take a look. When the out-of-focus image was sharpened and revealed Saturn it was as if I'd discovered it. My first view of M57 was through this telescope. I recently bought an Orion 70mm alt-az telescope for a friend's grandchildren. They are enjoying it quite a bit.

@edting Год назад

Early cheap scopes through about the 1970s, are useable with a motivated observer. The 280X magnification claim is a giveaway that you have an earlier model before those numbers began to get really out of control. Early Tascos for example were brand labeled Japanese units from Towa, Goto, Royal Astro, and others. Then around 1980 something sinister happened. They started selling cheap plastic junk from China.

@MickyMouseLimited 4 месяца назад

Very good video. Thank you for making it. I have to admit that up until now I do enjoy my binoculars alot.

@mikebenengtouncry3613 Год назад

i had a break from astronomy and i just came back and you dont even know how much i miss hearing your voice !!

@paulsccna2964 11 месяцев назад

Excellent advice. I have been doing Amateur Astronomy for 40 years and this advice spot on.

@astralfields1696 Год назад

+1 for the 8" DOB. I've had it for a year now and it is just perfect and so universal once properly equipped. For something more travel friendly I've actually gotten a cheap 100mm spotting scope for about 170$. Works pretty good.

@JustinJacobs-si6cp 6 месяцев назад

I am 26 now, had an 8 inch dob for about 6 years now. I absolutely love it. Wanting to upgrade to a 12 in the future, but with good eyepieces and a nice dark night the 8 inch gives you some incredible views! I have only ever been to a sky level 4 and even there the 8 inch is an absolute beast.

@ckotty Год назад

A must watch video for absolute beginners (dreamers) like me. Much appreciated, thanks 👋🏽👋🏽👋🏽

@Skootavision Год назад

My wonderful Mum got me a telescope from her catalogue when I was a kid. I had a standard tripod and was plastic. It actually put my off the hobby for many years, but we did very much enjoy looking at sunspots with the included solar filter, and occasionally having a look at the moon, but as soon as I used a Newtonian and saw Saturn, I knew it was time to come back to this when I was older and had money (was about 13 at the time). People think I'm being an equipment snob, so it's worn very thin when friends messaging me around early december asking what to get to get little Johnny started with 'star gazing' I suggest a star map app and binoculars if their budget is sub £100

@doctorartphd6463 Год назад

I much appreciate you explaining the various aspects of telescopes. Thank you.

@bk3720 Год назад

For binoculars in the city, I would say either 15x50 or a 12x50 with wide field eyepieces. The stars show up better as the sky background is darker. My 15x50 binos are a $10 thrift store find, they’re an old Carl Zeiss Jena Pentekar, they lack modern multi coatings, but they work for narrow eyes and don’t have oversized eyepiece barrels like a lot of modern binos. 7x50 and 10x50 sizes are lacking in a city, but I may use them for more general familiarizing of an area of sky. Telescope finders, a 3.5x21 with a 15x50 would be a good combo, or substitute the 3.5x finder for a red dot finder. The 3.5x21 finder can be made using a 7x50 eyepiece and an 8x21 bino objective lens. Think I found my next project now.😁😁😁

@meibergstrmandersen9181 Год назад

Cool and no nonsens as always - thank you Ed

@GarnettLeary Год назад

Excellent video. Absolute wisdom shared. I will be sharing this video to everyone at my star party.

@Oldwolf63 9 месяцев назад

Thanks Ed for a great video, I've shared it publicly on my FB and will add it to the Anglo Irish Astro Geeks links list

@pewheretic7967 Год назад

Beautiful way to explain the basics.

@cvetanvelinov4404 9 месяцев назад

Very useful information. Thank you!

@Wheeljack678 Год назад

Great video. I see a lot of people in beginners groups wanting to buy these all the time because they are cheap. Side-note, since you brought them up as a viable alternative: I feel binoculars are criminally underrated as observing-equipment. Really fun, light to carry and it doesn't get much easier to use.

@jongroubert4203 Год назад

Except, except . . . The problem is that most beginners want to look at the moon and planets first. Binoculars fail miserably here, because they don't have anywhere near enough magnification. For someone who has been in the hobby for awhile, they know what they're doing, binoculars are great. I completely agree. But not for a beginner.

@jayempress4203 Год назад

@@jongroubert4203 if binoculars cant give a good view of something close, large and bright, then they're useless for things much smaller, dimmer and further away. I bought a brand new set of Nikon Binoculars which makes a cheap junk tellescope a luxury for seeing things. And Im talking an old, dusty 40 year old 30 dollar scope from goodwill. I've never looked out of a good dobsonian so I can't even begin to compare it with anything. But I can say without a doubt yhat there's good junk and bad junk. It has nothing to do with the age or the price.

@jimmywho4721 Год назад

Hello Ed and thank you for this video. I found it to be very informative and helpful. I was gifted a " junk scope " as an 8th birthday present many years ago and I completely agree that the mounts made it difficult and frustrating to use. The only positive I ever really had was that it helped to spark my curiosity to see more of the universe. If I may suggest, can you make a video showing how to care for and maintain equipment if you haven't already? This is something that I know many beginners struggle with.

@timp1051 Год назад

Quite a few years ago I had a Tasco 114mm reflector. Didn't pay much for it but I did get some Celestron eye pieces. I actually got some really nice images of the moon and it allowed me to show my daughters Jupiter (red spot and red belts) and Saturn, the rings were easily visible. I am now in the market to get a much, much better scope. I've heard alot about the Dobsonians but I must admit that I really like an equatorial mount.

@pwmiles56 Год назад

Thing with Dobsonians is, you have to be fairly agile to use them. Finding is particularly difficult. A sturdily mounted equatorial would be my choice.

@motusprimus8785 Год назад

I used a Dob for a while. I found it cumbersome and in storage they take up a lost of space. After making one myself and figuring up the cost I also figured out they are way over priced also with exception of the table top designs. Setup time of an equatorial may take a little longer but you will appreciate the steady, sturdy design with smooth track. Personally, today, I use an old iOptron Cube Goto (ALTZ) because it can be pack so small with my Orion Apex 127mm. I like that I can pack them in my backpack, hike to the top of Table Rock mountain and just relax and watch the stars. The Apex OTA Mak is a bit heavy for its size though. People love their Dobs. I think the man was great for what he did for astronomy, but I am no fan of the mount.

@pwmiles56 Год назад

@@motusprimus8785 Hey I'm still in the zero-tech era. With a backyard site you can set up an equatorial mount, level it with a spirit level, set your latitude (no need, you've already clamped it), swivel the RA axis to point to celestial North (which you know by eye), and you are good to go. All in daylight! You still need good finding, which I've arranged by having both a 6x30 in-line finder and a 9x50 right-angle one. The only tech I've found useful for visual observing is a right ascension electric drive.

@unoleagotiya5583 Год назад

I have both dobs and equatorials. Give me the equatorial any day!

@Alexis-ki4gn 2 месяца назад

Big fan of you Ed. Thanks so much for sharing all this knowledge and experience with us. I recently purchased a refractor, AstroFi 90 and I find this thing great and nice to play with and start learning about the night sky. Not sure what you think about this scope but I love it.

@paull5609 Год назад

My first telescope was a Celestron star hopper 8”dobsonian. What a great choice it was. About $600 at the time. Learned how to find objects by their placement near other stars, etc. Buying the tasco will help the budding astronomers be so frustrated that they lose interest. Great content here.

@Arminyus Год назад

I thought the title was: “how to detect space junk through your telescope”. Now I want to try just that

@lukebest Год назад

Informative is always thanks Ed.

@davidlsmith3864 Год назад

Always love the reviews; made me pick up my first Orion 8X Dobsonian a short while back. Do a review on the Vaonis Vespera telescope (which is more of a camera than a telescope). THANKS !

@ericfrizzell2450 Год назад

Hi Ed great video! I can't believe they have a solar projection with them plastic eyepieces? Looks like a melt down too me! Clear skys!!!

@brettatton 11 месяцев назад

This is the best treatise on the Christmas Trash Scope ever! I will be spreading the word using the 'talking points' Ed shares here. BTW we often go to over 300 power on deep sky objects. But we do it on a 28" F.4.1 Dobsonian mounted Newtonian with a Kennedy mirror. It will work with a 8mm Explore Scientific or a 9mm TV Ethos. Targets like The Dumbbell Nebula cry out for it!

@patrickfriel2353 Год назад

Thanks Ed, great tutorial. Last year I bought an Explore Scientific 80 mm FirstLight scope on sale for $139 (usually $199). I was looking for something light and inexpensive as I am old enough to not enjoy hauling around bigger scopes. I have had a lot of fun with it. The optics seem to be quite good to me. Still, I will direct newbies to your advice.

@sammyfromsydney Год назад

You can have fun with cheap junk scopes but you have to know what you're doing and understand the limits. My first lunar astrophotography was with a 2MP digital point and shoot camera through a department store refractor and they're still hanging on my wall for sentimental reasons. You can make out craters but of course they're not super sharp and these days you can get a superzoom camera that would do better. Buying the junk scopes full price is a bad idea but sometimes you can pick them up VERY cheap second hand- $20-$50. You can hold up a phone or use an adapter to take low quality astro images of the moon and planets or of double stars. But yeah the beginner is better off dodging them and going with binocs. A few years ago the "Galileoscope" made the rounds with no mount at all and was sold quite cheaply new. If it's your first exposure to a magnified moon it might be something you can use to learn about the origins of the telescope and have an evening's fun.

@johnhagen31 Год назад

I'm a photographer and not an astronomer, but all of this makes perfect sense. It's all about getting the basics right. If the telescope construction and optics are sub-standard it can't possibly work. Thank you for this accessible and thoughtful piece!

@pgknippel Год назад

Same here. I’m drawn to the demands astronomy puts on lenses. This Ed guy is one of the best I’ve seen.

@johnrobison1413 Год назад

About the wood homemade rings; beautiful but bulky and complex to make. All my cheap 60’s came with vixen style dovetails that I removed and relocated on a simple homemade cradle. The scope attaches to the cradle with a hose clamp padded by felt. By tightening the hose clamp just so I can both rotate the tube and slide the cradle to balance it. Of course my longest scope is a 60/500 f8.3 that is only 22 inches long with the focus racked in and diagonal attached. I would mention that the focuser on the StarBlast is a reprehensible piece of all plastic trash. I picked up a StarBlast 113 EQ from an ad on OfferUp. Set aside the EQ-1 and made up a mini dob base for it. Kind of fixed the wobbly drawtube on the focuser with some blue painters tape, a lot more solid now anyway. Nice little scope by the way.

@richardcranium5839 4 месяца назад

i bought that exact tasco for the kids. it was a learning experience i'm glad we had. it taught us the hard way what works what doesnt. once we figured it out it suprisingly wasnt terrible. then i got a long tube reflector on a german equatorial mount. fantastic except my hole in the trees was right where you have to do the "meridian flip" if you know you know!!! then i bought that starblast you showed. that has been used more than the others comined 3x! quick easy you are looking in under a minute!! no it wont track but add a webcam and keep the mount free you can easily trac manually!

@johnclose7377 2 месяца назад

Thank you very much for your straightforward, easy to understand reviews on what not to buy. I was given a 60mm Tasco refractor exactly the same as you showed in the video when I was about 10 years old and thought it was great but what did I know? I haven’t used it for probably 4o years or so and recently started looking around for a new one within my budget of around $400. After watching your video I never realised how crap the one I had was. I now have a better idea of what not to buy.

@ricstanNZ Год назад

Really interesting and useful for me as a new comer. I was amazed to hear how big the Andromeda galaxy is in relation to the moon - 8 times!! It would be good to hear more about relative sizes of similar objects.

@danycosta970 Год назад

What a flashback. It's like you reviewed my first telescope with ALL of the red flags! Mine was a 60mm f/15 from Sears (1961), a Christmas gift at age 5. It took several years, but I managed to learn how to best use what I had. The 3 eyepieces were .965". I kept only the 25mm Huygens and threw away the 12 and 6mm Ramsdens, the 1.5X erector and the 3X barlow. I thought you might also talk about the chilling effect a crap telescope has on the interests of a young kid. I believe that a very high percentage of these crap telescopes end up in the attic ... forgotten after a period of frustration. Future astronomers ... lost.

@edting Год назад

And the most amazing thing is, that early Sears refractor is one of the good ones! Early entry level telescopes were brand labeled Japanese products from Goto, Towa, Royal Astro, and others. If you still have it, hang on to it. It wasn't until the 1980s when things got really bad. They started selling useless plastic junk from China.

@baneverything5580 7 месяцев назад

I paid about 300 for a 90mm refractor in the early 90s. It was really good for daytime terrestrial viewing. The moon, Saturn, and Jupiter were good too. It was stolen. It came with a screen that mounted behind the eyepiece for viewing sunspots and it worked well. Way WAY down the highway I could easily read name tags on workers inside the chicken place and past that the digital displays at the car wash. It seemed just as good as my early 1970s telescope like it. It was great for watching hummingbirds at a feeder and their favorite resting branches. I could dial in those numbers without looking through the scope trying to find the birds once I knew the numbers and go back and forth. I haven`t seen a good refractor since. Friends had several. They were shockingly terrible.

@matthewneale6537 Год назад

I've never been able to afford what I want, but I have an Orion Skyscanner 100mm. I added a couple of better eyepieces and a solar filter. I was very popular during the solar eclipse since out of over 100 people viewing, I had one of two scopes. I have had a bunch of fun looking at planets, galaxies and nebulas. Years ago another red flag I read was that good scopes come in plain boxes, not fancy packaging.

@MountainFisher Год назад

I still use my binoculars. Quite helpful in a city situation as the binos can see what I can't. Helps to find my target. I also have a local astronomy club that is extremely helpful and has telescopes members can borrow. Helped me figure out what I wanted and more importantly, what I didn't want.

@supitsks4691 8 месяцев назад

Thank you so much Ed for making this guide, i removed about 4 telescopes off my list!

@hcic8738 3 месяца назад

Excellent video. Thank you

@howardhudson5475 Год назад

Thank you for this. I learned this many years ago with a Tasco similar to to the one you use here. About the only good thing it was for was looking at the moon. I'm very happy with my CPC 1100 & Nexstar 8SE.

@williamdyer3454 16 дней назад

The Tasco 60 mm refractor was my very first telescope back in 1970. Ed is right. It was an awful telescope but there was one good thing about it. It was just good enough to start me on a life long love of astronomy. Now I have Celestron 6se.

@rickbeaman4567 Год назад

Hi, Ed. Turns out my telescope checks all of the red flags. Of course, I got the telescope for Xmas in 1969, when I was 13 years old and long before you had started your RU-vid channel. 😂 I did manage to get the equatorial mount and the add-on clock drive, so I was able to see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, & the moon. Thanks for all of your videos. I really enjoy them.

@davidblessing5981 Год назад

Same here. 49$ from Sears with equatorial mount

@rickbeaman4567 Год назад

@@davidblessing5981 yes, from the Sears Christmas catalog. 👍

@davidblessing5981 Год назад

The 1971 Sears Christmas catalog has it for 49.99. Wow froze to death in December when I got it. That’s about $280 bucks today

@65gtotrips Год назад

Lots of great information !

@bobmyers9008 7 месяцев назад

Hi Mr. Ting, thanks for all the informative videos! I was on an estate sale site today and one of these Tasco models (675 power!), already has 16 bids on it :(

@MPAstro Год назад

Thankyou Ed for finally highlighting the junk scopes saga, or I call them trash scopes!! I've been highlighting this problem for years for calling this out, and it's about time something is got to be done about it which indeed is killing our hobby!! My trash telescope for Xmas videos have been shadow banned literally, has now I've stopped getting views from them, because I've highlighted the truth and called out the scammers that are using their powers to sell junk scopes via through FB and Amazon, and even selling dangerous astro products, again they will be out to get you for calling out their scams!!! But careful Ed Clear Skies to you and keep up the good work, WE NEED SAVE OUR HOBBY!!

@edting Год назад

Yeah, my personal issue is this - Tasco (and others) sell this stuff, the buyer can't make it work, and they come find me. Tasco sells junk and I pay the price. How is that fair?

@MPAstro Год назад

@@edting I totally agree with you 100% what amazes me the most is that there is alot of top Astro channels out here on RU-vid, that they simply do not call this issue out neither, which I feel the more we push this issue out, the more community will listen to us, Hence the reason why I feel that these top channels do not show their true self or passion into this hobby, There are only a few channels I subscribe if creators were more honest to their viewers. I have been watching your video content very closely for quite a few months now, and after you made this video, I have now finally subscribed to your channel, because finally someone else has already seen the onslaught on the recent decline of interest into Astronomy, which is now slowly fading away!! The only reason why these companies are back tracking and are trying to find you is that you have alot more subs and views than my channel alone, and it scares them completely that a top Astro channel remained to true to the hobby and not recieving sponsorships for baised reviews!! Now the battle has begun, with my channel they just simply ignored me and place shadow bans on my channel, but with your subs and views they cannot control you!!! Thanks again Ed with the true passion you just showed me, Now MP ASTRO is in full support to your channel!! Wish you clear skies Ed.

@brianreynolds1098 Год назад

LOL! I actually HAVE 2 OF THOSE!!! And believe it or not, the Sun filter actually worked!!! Back in 2005, the Sun was pumping out spots and I tried it out and it actually showed spots on the filter. I got a real chuckle out of those scopes. They're in the basement now, safely tucked away where they can do no harm. A curiosity more than anything else now. With good EP's and a decent diagonal, it's actually not that bad on the Moon and large stars, BTW. That just cracked me up when I saw that. Who knew? I thought they were dead and gone except in my basement! Keep up the great work, Ed. And keep spreading the Gospel, my man!

@astronomerathome Год назад

I got my first telescope from a mail order catalogue. I didn't know what it was, only that it could magnify over 600x! And the picture on the box - WOW! I was sold! It turned out to be a Meade Saturn 114mm f8 reflector. It came with all the junk of the day, had a tiny .965" focuser and a very shaky wooden(!) mount. The 5x24 "finder" was so badly stopped down, it was useless. But even with all those limitations, I managed to stumble across a weird star once, it had rings! 30 years on, I can still remember that WOW feeling when I realised that it was Saturn. I have been hooked ever since that day! :D

@dannytravis7118 9 дней назад

I just purchased a reflective telescope. It's a celestron tabletop national parks foundation. It came with 2 eye pieces. A 20mm, and a 10mm. Both are 1.25 diameter and have a K 10mm or K 20mm. It has a 300mm focal length 76mm diameter aperture. I also got guide to the stars planispere,and a book called starfinder by Carole Scott and Giles Sparrow. I hope I didn't go terribly wrong especially with the scope. The scope only weights 5lbs and size is good for me. I'm disabled and can't carry much weight and I'm able sit at my outdoor table and look through the scope. I haven't been able to really test it out yet it's been much too cloudy and overcast. Ar first I thought I really messed up and got junk, but realized I couldn't see any star's with the naked eye either. I don't think a telescope is going to work very well without a clear view. I'm mostly interested in looking at the moon and learning how to operate a telescope. Then I will start looking into getting something like the Orion 8 inch scope. Did I go off rails and buy total junk or do you think this is useful enough for getting started

@oscarlindsey1920 Год назад

I enjoyed your video on “junk scopes “. Thought it was very informative and useful information. However I was surprised that you didn’t comment on observing planets. When I was 13 years old in 1962 I received a 2.4 inch refractor telescope which started a lifelong interest in astronomy. With this small, cheap scope I was able to observe the craters on the moon and all the planets except Pluto. Identified the moons of Jupiter and saw rings of Saturn, several comets and planetary nebulae.

@tomoaktree4951 3 месяца назад

Excellent Video!

@anstef1485 Год назад

Thank you Ed for another very informative video. I have always looked at these scopes with suspicion given the very low price point. Your comments on eyepieces are particularly useful because any beginner scope will be supplied with eyepieces and we never know what is good or what is garbage. Do you have a video explaining what a plossl (?) and other eyepiece designs are and what you recommend?

@tuunaes Год назад

How well what eyepiece fits depends on focal ratio and focal length of particular telescope. Focal ratios of 8"/10" Dobsons require far more from eyepieces to have sharp image to edges compared to various Cassegrains, or long focal ratio refractors. Also cliche 25mm Plössls are bad for ~1200mm focal length telescopes lacking proper wide view to fit in wide showpiece clusters like Pleiades. That's why GSO built Dobsons coming with 2" 30mm eyepiece are far better choises than Syntas etc. (besides GSO giving proper ergonomics RACI finder instead of neck pain finder)

@johnbunegru3611 Год назад

Love your videos! So much great information. What do you think of the Celestron Sky Prodigy 130. Just curious about you what you may think about it. It sells for about $950.

@DogmaBeoulve Год назад

My darling cousin recently came to me wanting to get into stargazing beyond looking up at the sky and had a favor to ask - if I had a telescope and if she could borrow it ;D I don't have a telescope but I've puttered around enough videos & RU-vidrs to know a little so I promised to look into it and indulge her. But knowing how much I don't know, I wanted to actually do some research so I don't end up with something difficult or useless and, thank goodness RU-vid provided you as a totally random recommendation! I've watched the video from start to finish and have bookmarked this thing - you're going to save me a LOT of trouble and have given me a starting point! Thank you, sir!

@Astronurd Год назад

Great video Ed. If your video even prevents one person from going down the junk scope road, it’ll have been worthwhile.

@josephnaja 11 месяцев назад

I have an Orion Skyview Pro 8 inch Reflector on a Skyview Pro equatorial mount and tripod with a True Trac dual axis motor drive and I absolutely love it. It's a great all around rig with an 8 inch parabolic primary mirror, 2 inch Crayford focuser, 1000 mm focal length and an f-ratio of 4.9, it's a light bucket. I wouldn't use anything other than an eq mount. I also have a dual finder scope mount for my 9x40 scope and my red dot finder. I also have a really nice polar alignment scope. I think for the money this is a lot of bang for your buck. Really easy to collimate, I don't use a laser collimator, collimation cap and a bright star! It's just too bad that Orion discontinued this model but I was fortunate enough to purchase a second brand new motor drive just in case the one on my mount fails, but so far so good it still works great, tracks absolutely perfect. I use a cmos color camera for the solar system and a Canon EOS M10 mirrorless camera for deep sky.

@ericemanuelson5128 Год назад

Great video, The first telescope I owned was the infamous power seeker 127 as I went for the biggest I could afford at the time and spent the whole summer fighting with it. The worst beginner telescope

@kasa6038 Год назад

My first scope was a 5 inch Meade reflector on a so so equatorial mount on top of a very wobbly tripod for just short of $200. I thought it was very expensive a the time. By far, the weakest link in the chain was the mount/tripod and I learned anything north of 75x was impossible. I upgraded the eyepieces to Celestron XCels. I loved the telescope, even though I knew it was not great quality and used it a lot. After a dozen or so nights out, I got a 10'' Apertura Dob, which was a massive upgrade. I would have never thought that I would spend more money on eyepieces than my first scope but my most recent was $300+ on a TV Delos!

@ginopagnani7286 Год назад

Thanks Ed, wish you were around in the early 1960’s when I got my 60mm refractor from Sears here in MA. Maybe that’s why I’m a biochemist !!!

@sparkypants9650 Год назад

You left out the cheapest option. Find the nearest astronomy club and go play with their telescopes.

@perry3928 Год назад

Hi Ed and thanks. Back in the 80's I bought my first scope, at believe it or not Macy's. I could see the moon but that was about it. Just stayed as a decoration by the window. So sad this garbage is out there killing the chances of new explorers to progress. Thanks for posting. Clear skies everyone!

@freeman10000 Год назад

As usual, great advice Ed 😊

@drraventlwml 3 месяца назад

Hello, my first telescope was a travelscope 70 from Celestron, and it got me hooked. I still have it today and sometimes take it with me camping. yes the mount is worthless.

@sabbottart Год назад

Great video. 👍

@paulholdstock4751 11 месяцев назад

Love your videos, thank you. By the way have you any reviews on TAL scopes like the tal 100 achromat

@edting 11 месяцев назад

The Russian stuff is all the same - first rate optics housed in overbuilt mechanical assemblies that look a little like weapons.

@paulholdstock4751 11 месяцев назад

@@edting yes Ed, I agree. Have got most of the TAL range and built like tanks with great optics.

@PafMedic Год назад

My 1st Gets Picked On The 114LCM,But It Has Family Members Now,I Love The Optics When Up On The Eqm35Pro,But Happy To Say,Nothing I Own Is Classified…Junk😂😂😂Thank You Ed For Another Informing Video,God Bless and Clear Skies🙏🏻❤️⭐️🔭🌏

@BlondieSL Год назад

So being an electronics guy, when I saw "spot a junk scope" I naturally thought that this would be about all the garbage junk oscilloscopes coming out of China right now. But nope, it was about... telescopes. LOL I almost clicked out, but the way Ed talked, I thought, I'm going to listen. I'm glad that I did. I'm not into astronomy anymore, but when young, I did have a scope, that, back then, actually worked. It looked similar to that junk Tasco, but he had a much different/better mount and tripod. It was very stable. I kind of remember it also having 2 adjustment thingies that were on flexible cables or something like that. It's hard to remember because it was decades ago. LOL At that time, using, believe it or not, the Commodore 64 and a star software that I can't remember the name of now. But that software, for that time and THAT computer, we really amazing. You literally enter the date and time and using the North start as the starting point, you could search for something you want to see, like "Mars" or "Saturn" and it would give you the right ascension and declination coordinates, which I would dial into the scope. It actually worked. It was a fun hobby for that age. Now, I'm happier to just let others do the hard work and take the hires pictures that I can see on this very display. LOL 😁

@edting Год назад

I'm hearing from many oscilloscope and microscope enthusiasts who crossed over and found this video. It's a happy accident that I used the word "scope" in the title.

@BlondieSL Год назад

@@edting "Accident" or just a sly move! LOL 😜😁

@rvmagnum5415 Год назад

Everything you said makes a scope junk is what I looked for in the past ,lol. Thanks for clearing things up.I just bought one for 130$ with all the junk and moon and sun filters , I should have found your video first.

@larrywalker2715 Год назад

Very Helpful

@bradrock7731 Год назад

I know Tasco is not known for highest grade. But I have a Tasco 6 inch reflector form the sixties or early seventies that is really quite nice. Beautiful wood cases for the tube/ tripod & the mount. Robust wood tripod & a fine mount with plenty of mass. ( NO PLASTIC anywhere) I've had no desire to replace it in 40 years of use. Other than maybe something better suited for picture taking.

@bradrock7731 Год назад

Subscribed. We now live in a very rural, very dark part of the country. I think I want an observatory shed with scope set up full time. Those cast iron balance weights get tiresome.

@edting Год назад

Those early Japan-branded Tascos are worth collecting.

@kitfoxbuilder Год назад

Ed, you are dead wrong! 😂 My Nikon 80mm f/15 uses only .965” eyepieces (I haven’t found a need to convert it yet), and it’s a really good scope. And my Vixen Pulsar 102 comes with a very solid yoke mount for its lllloooonnnnnggggg tube. Take it all back before I give this video a thumbs down!!! 😊 Don’t consider the fact that these scopes were made decades ago, and are as rare as hens teeth! 😅 Seriously, other than my two listed exceptions, you are correct, as always. And I will forever love my Vixen ED81s, it’s a keeper ❤

@edting Год назад

Those early Japanese refractors were pretty good, even with the .965" eyepieces. Goto, Royal Astro, Halmar, early Tascos, etc are collectible today.

@brendan957 Год назад

Ed, I’ve found your videos to be concise, practical guideposts to my astronomy purchasing and viewing. However, there’s an elephant in the room. That EM-200 mount in the foreground is begging for a review, and I’d love to hear your take on it. Thanks for all you’ve done for my education.

@jeffreyyoung4104 Год назад

Thanks Ed for the beginner primer! My first astronomy scope is a 4 inch Newtonian that does OK with local objects, but fails on many other jobs. But it was an impulse buy at a garage sale. But my 10X binocs do a lot of fun viewing! I am in the process of building an 8 inch Dobsonian, and I am trying to make a camera adapter to record my observations. WOW! Looking at the sun??!!?? I use a cardboard pinhole camera to get a look at the sun for any solar views. It is one thing I tell others to never use glasses or such for looking at the sun, and the pinhole with a one inch hole works very well for projecting the image on a paper screen.

@pwmiles56 Год назад

A one inch hole sounds rather large. In 1999 I made a pinhole camera from a shoebox. The pinhole was the smallest that would let enough light through. The image was projected on the other end of the box. I used it to view the Aug 1999 solar eclipse, which was about 98% total in south-east England. It showed it well, an unforgettable experience. I've used projection from a 3 inch refractor to see sunspots and even Venus transits. I think that's safe but to be done with awareness of the risks.

@jeffreyyoung4104 Год назад

@@pwmiles56 I am making a 2 foot square sheet of cardboard with a one inch hole in the center. The cardboard as a sun screen to provide a shadow on a standard sheet of paper, and the image of the sun from the hole is on the sheet of paper. This allows for many people to look at the image without having to risk looking at the sun directly. This allows for people to see sun spots, or eclipses of the sun. When I use it, I put the sheet of paper on the ground, and hold the cardboard at the correct distance to focus the image of the sun on the paper. If I remember, you need about 4 feet of distance from the sheet of paper to get a good image of the sun.

@pwmiles56 Год назад

@@jeffreyyoung4104That's great, do continue to experiment (safely of course). I just tried your design and I did get a slightly fuzzy circular image. However, the resolution of the image will be the aperture divided by the distance, in radians. I.e. 1/48 radians or about 1.2 degrees. Whereas, the Sun itself is only 0.5 degrees across. It might show a hint of an eclipse, but it certainly couldn't show sunspots. Generally you need to have the image formed in the deepest possible shade. The shoebox design can do this, as I say it showed the eclipse, though the image would have been quite small (EDIT about 0.1 inch at a 1 foot distance.).